President Lee Jae Myung delivers a keynote address at the NATO Defence Industry Forum at the Ankara Convention Center in Turkey on Tuesday (local time). [Yonhap]
President Lee Jae Myung delivers a keynote address at the NATO Defence Industry Forum at the Ankara Convention Center in Turkey on Tuesday (local time). [Yonhap]

President Lee Jae Myung said Friday that "Europe and the Atlantic and the Indo-Pacific are becoming ever more closely linked by common security challenges."

Lee made the remarks in an interview with Turkish state news agency Anadolu Agency, published Friday, describing the NATO summit held in Ankara as the "first step" in cooperation between the two sides. "In this new era, security is not determined by military power alone," he said. "Technological innovation, a resilient industrial base and trusted partnerships are what determine security."

South Korea is the second-largest arms supplier to European NATO members after the United States, and Lee used the summit visit to propose "Korea-NATO Defense Cooperation 2.0" — a framework that goes beyond simple arms sales. He said the initiative means "not merely trading weapons systems as current defense cooperation does, but jointly researching, jointly producing and jointly operating" them.

Lee also said no defense cooperation can succeed "without the trust that core technologies will be protected and that essential capabilities will be reliably maintained under any circumstances."

"The outcomes of this summit are the first practical step toward realizing this vision," Lee said, adding that the launch of negotiations on a Korea-NATO Basic Procurement Agreement, expanded participation in multinational cooperative projects and collaboration with the NATO innovation ecosystem "will form the foundation for institutionalizing broader, closer and more forward-looking cooperation."

On the sidelines of the summit, South Korea and NATO launched negotiations on the Basic Procurement Agreement. Once concluded, the deal would give South Korean companies structured access to a defense procurement market worth about $9.9 billion annually.

"The vision I have in mind goes beyond Korea and NATO simply building a strong defense industry together — it is for us to become long-term strategic partners who uphold the international security order together for decades to come," Lee said.


moone@heraldcorp.com